Dave Boling: Even through loss, this Gonzaga women’s team embodied the Fortier spirit

LAS VEGAS – Lisa Fortier confessed: A year ago, she and her players lied when her Gonzaga women’s basketball team seemed emotionally demolished after an upset loss to Portland.

Lied through their tears, in fact.

They had beaten that Portland team by 50 points – 90-40 – in the final regular-season game only to lose to the Pilots in the West Coast Conference title game.

How in the world could a talented team suffer such an embarrassing reversal at tournament time?

I raised my hand from the media gallery to ask if she had any theories on how this letdown could happen. Overconfident? Looking past them?

“I would like to say no but … maybe a little bit,” she said, her players on the dais were noticeably weepy, along with her. “Hopefully it was just bad defense and not mental challenges.”

Mental challenges? Those of us asking superficial question s regarding a basketball game could have no idea of their challenges.

Shortly before that tournament, the veteran coach had shared with her players her breast cancer diagnosis. She had felt poorly for some time through the winter, and a biopsy revealed why.

Of course her team had overlooked Portland. What was basketball, after all? Something very far down the line in order of importance to them.

Calling upon some reservoir of resiliency and determination, Fortier and the Zags dealt with the early stages of her treatment well enough to advance to the NCAAs and get to the Sweet 16 before falling to No. 1-seed Texas.

Her health issues were kept from the public until the summer.

Monday afternoon, after a 63-61 loss to Oregon State in the conference tournament quarterfinals, Fortier sat at the same podium to answer questions about the loss.

The top-seeded Zags had split a pair of overtime games against the Beavers this season, so this was destined to be a battle. GU had control in the second half but OSU came up with big plays and closed it out.

The loss stung, of course. But with Fortier at the microphone, her hair having grown back, partially, after being lost to her treatments – which included 25 radiation sessions – a basketball game once again seemed secondary.

When asked about having to say goodbye to the seniors on the team that had been through so much with her, Fortier asked: “Really?”

It had the tone of mock exasperation. She knew it was delicate territory.

She had brought a towel with her to the media gathering, and brought it to her eyes at that point and several times thereafter.

“This group is close,” she said, halting, but resolute. “The stuff you go through makes it closer. They coached themselves for part of the time. They had to develop themselves. They were willing to do whatever I needed them to do.”

Understand their perspective: a group of athletes, young and talented and immortal, seeing the woman who had guided them to elite success year after year now engaged in what could be a survival battle.

Fortier explained how impressively her Zags responded. “I would try to come back, and they would say, ‘Coach, we got this … we’ll handle it.’ ”

Towel to the face. Is that towel big enough? Can you pass it around to the rest of us next?

Together, with Fortier leading the way, they all handled it successfully.

How? In the case of Saint Mary’s transfer Tayla Dalton: “… she postponed her recruiting trip so I could get a mastectomy,” Fortier said.

Towel, please.

“Remarkable leadership they have,” she said. “They’ve been a huge part of my journey. I can’t say enough about this group of people and the amount of things they learned, and the life lessons they’re going to have because they’re tough and they’re gritty and they know how to go to work and stay the course.”

Tough and gritty? No one could have taught them better than Fortier. The influence of great coaches lasts for lifetimes, even without grave circumstances and drama.

But imagine how much these women will be changed by the way their coach has dealt with this disease.

Fortier has been deemed cancer free. With the support of her staff and players, the Zags won 22 games and shared the WCC regular-season title with Portland. Toughness and grit? In spades.

Fortier … sounds French, right?

Definition: French for “stronger, more fortified.” And as a surname: “someone employed at a fortress or castle.”

On this day, Yvonne Ejim became the all-time leading basketball scorer at Gonzaga, man or woman, overtaking Drew Timme’s record. But she needed a towel for her tears a few times, too.

They were all obviously sad in the aftermath of the loss. But this time, nobody had reason to tell lies about bigger things.

A loss, yes, but surely there were more meaningful victories to be celebrated.